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“I can’t wait,” I told her as we chatted a little longer. I hung up, knowing that Boyce called during the chat since I should be on the road by now.
CHAPTER 23
Boyce
I sat on the couch as the phone rang, wondering where the hell Vivian was. She should have called me by now to let me know that she was leaving. I got her voice mail again and ended the call, dropping the phone on the couch as I stared at the random game on TV. My phone rang, and I grabbed it, looking at the screen to see that it was Bella. “Hi, sweetie. How are you?” I forced cheer into my voice as I answered, waiting for her response.
“I just spoke to Viv. I wish I could be there with you both for longer than two days,” she told me regretfully as I realized that I was looking forward to my time with Vivian. Did that make me a bad father? I wondered of Nora was judging me from above as I focused on the moment.
“I know. I do, too. We’ll make up for that Thursday and Friday. Maybe do something together like the old days?” I asked as she agreed. I was sad that I wasn’t going to see my daughter for as long as I should but there was a certain relief to that as well. It was going to be hard enough to act normal around everyone as it was. We talked for a little longer and ended the call just as my phone rang again. “Vivian. Where are you?” I asked as I saw her name on the screen.
“Hello to you, too.” Her voice was sarcastic, and I regretted my tone.
“I’m sorry. I was worried,” I apologized as she sighed on the other end. “Are you still at the apartment?”
“Bella just asked me the same thing,” Vivian told me as I realized that my daughter was calling everyone today. She did miss home after all. “I got caught up on the phone with her and she made me feel guilty. She doesn’t know a thing and Bella made me feel guilty. What’s going to happen when we tell her?”
“We’re not dealing with that yet. We get a lot of time to be alone.” I assured her as worry filled me that she wasn’t going to come home. “It will be okay.”
“I know. I just need to relax. I’ll get my bag and leave soon, Boyce. Can we drink some wine and just relax tonight?” Vivian asked as I heard the strain in her voice.
“Did something happen?” I asked her as she sat silent on the other end.
“One of the people that we saw at dinner that night asked about you. Apparently, we’re not being that subtle.”
“Was it the girl? She looks like she’d make gossip out of anything to me,” I said, and I remembered her face. There were always those girls that needed to know everything when that actually deserved to know nothing.
“No, it wasn’t her, but she’s been asking as well. I just feel like it’s so obvious what’s going on and what are we going to do about your family and friends?” Vivian asked me as I tried to think of something to fix this.
“We’re close. You grew up here for a lot of years. We’re not going to act any differently than we would before out of my room. It will be fine. I need you to come here, Vivian. I need to have you here beside me while we try to figure out how to break this to people,” I pleaded with her as I felt my head throbbing.
“I need to see you as well. I just want to calm down before I hit the road. Soon, okay?” Vivian asked as I reluctantly agreed. I told her to call me when she was on the road
and she agreed before ending the call.
I was torn deciding what to do. I wasn’t going to tell anyone about us this holiday. There was only a week to spend together and I wanted to enjoy that, but people were sensing that we were at the very least sleeping together. I didn’t know what her friends said to her, but it sounded like they weren’t tactful about it. I didn’t want the people that knew us the best to think that we were anything less than in love. I didn’t want them to think that I was taking advantage of Vivian.
I went to get a beer and sat back down as I waited for her call. There was a big part of me that thought I couldn’t wait to let the world know about us. They could deal with it the way they wanted to.
Then again, it might be better to wait. We could enjoy the holidays and go away on our trip, seeing what it was like as the people we were now. We could ease into this and break the news later down the line once we had settled into this a little more. I wanted to prove to Vivian that I could give her more than sex. I needed her to see that we could have a future together past sneaking in time at this house or her apartment. I didn’t know how the hell I was going to do this, but I needed Vivian to know that I loved her, and I didn’t want to share that just yet.
Was I selfish? Perhaps. My phone rang, and I answered to hear Vivian tell me that she was leaving now. I told her that I would see her soon and sat back down on the couch to wait for her. I wanted to hold her tonight and reassure her that everything was going to be fine and show her that I loved her this weekend. Once it was Monday, preparation would start for Thanksgiving, but I didn’t want to think about that yet.
I just wanted to hold her.
We spent a great few days together before it got busy. Anne arrived Monday and I left to go to the office as they sat down with coffee to talk. I knew that Vivian was going to help at the office tomorrow, so she would be mine, though not in the way that I wanted her to. We had an amazing weekend together, making love in every part of the house that we could. She slept in my room, knowing that she’d have to go back to hers soon to avoid raising suspicion. I left to the sound of their laughter, smiling as I thought about tonight.
The day passed quickly with staff working extra hard to make up for the three days that we had off this week, I was generous with holidays and gave them the family time that they deserved, with three days off this week and an entire week at Christmas. I appreciated it when I was the father of a young daughter.
I headed home at a normal time that evening along with everyone else. It was a long drive with traffic and I had to fight the urge to call Vivian. I was not known to call her often and starting now would just be foolish. I listened to a podcast instead, trying to learn something new as images of Vivian rushed through my mind. When I pulled into the driveway, I hurried out of the car and through the garage door into the kitchen.
The house smelled of cinnamon and apples as Vivian stirred something in a pot. I glanced around, seeing that she was probably alone as I walked in and dropped my keys to the counter. “Hey,” I said warily as she turned her head and smiled at me.
“Hi,” Vivian replied setting the spoon on a plate and walking towards me. She slipped her arms around my neck and I leaned down to kiss her, tasting something sweet on her lips. “Anne went home for the night since we got a lot done. I talked to most of the guests for Thursday and they won’t be arriving until Wednesday evening.” She pulled away slightly to talk to me but then kissed me again.
“We’re alone?” I whispered as she nodded, and I kissed her harder. I kissed her until she was breathless and then moved down to her jaw line.
“Everything is locked up for the night. We made a veggie soup for dinner,” Vivian muttered as I sucked on the skin below her ear like she loved me to do. “Oh, God. I missed you today.” I reached down to lift her body against mine, placing her on the counter as Vivian squealed.
